The fact is that many people make a great effort to watch their portions during the week. From turning away from the office treats, to counting calories via fancy calorie-tracking apps, most of us do well to eat well during the week.

Why is it then that some people achieve fast results while others seem to slowly regress to their original physical state?

Blame it on the weekends. Uncontrollable weekend eating can derail your weight loss goals. Don’t worry though. You can put a plan in place today to keep the bathroom scale from going in the wrong direction.

First, we have to be really honest with ourselves and look at what we are eating at all times. I am not saying you have to be perfect and I am not saying you can't eat ice cream or cookies. But if you are not hitting your fitness goal, then you are eating more calories than you should. And according to a recent study, those extra calories are most likely being eaten on the weekend.

Now let’s look at the numbers. On average, people eat up to 300 calories or more of additional calories on a Saturday compared to the weekday. And it's not just the additional food that is causing you to go backward. It is also the type of food that we eat on the weekends.

All calories are not created equally.

Simple carbohydrates are broken down differently in your body than complex carbs. If this terminology sounds foreign to you, lets put it in food terms. A pancake is a simple carbohydrate. That means your body digests it fast and quickly converts it to energy. Oatmeal on the other hand is a complex carbohydrate. There is more involved in breaking it down, so your body takes a while to use it as energy.

Here's the thing...

If you don't need that energy right away (let's face it, who feels like going for a jog after eating a couple pancakes?), then your body says, "Hey, we don't need the energy right now so let's store it for later." Guess how that is stored. Yep you guessed it- fat.

But let's say you eat those pancakes after a good strength training workout like Tension Toner (shameless plug here, I admit it). Your body will break down the pancake and replenish the lost muscle glycogen to repair and strengthen itself.

There is more involved in this but I stripped it down so that you can see the bigger picture. Most of us celebrate the weekends with foods and drinks that we would not consider as part of our usual food routine. But since it's the weekend, we put our long term fitness plan on the back burner so we can de-stress with friends over food and drinks.

The calorie-surged weekends can cause you to gain well over 10 pounds a year. More importantly than gaining weight, it zaps all the hard work and progress that you made the rest of the week.

How can you take back control of your pant size? Do these 3 things this weekend and see noticeable changes in the mirror.

Do some type of exercise every day.

Make it a habit to, at the very least, go for a brisk walk for 15 to 20 minutes in the morning, during lunch or even after dinner. You’ll feel more alert and healthier, and also notice the difference on the scale too. Not much of a walker?

Try this: Step in place during the commercials of an hour show. Scientists at University of Tennessee at Knoxville say you can burn 150 calories! It’s certainly a great way to catch up on your favorite shows and burn fat.

Drink up!

Put the margaritas down. I meant drink plenty of water. Did you know that many times we mistake hunger for thirst? Next time you’re hungry, drink some water and wait 5-10 minutes. If you still feel hungry, then you know your body is telling you it needs to eat. Carry a water bottle and drink it throughout the day, even when you are not thirsty. Water fills up your stomach to leave you feeling full and satisfied.

Watch the clock.

In our ebook Burn Your Belly Fat, we go over the 10 crucial things that you should do to accomplish your fitness goals. And one of the belly burner tips that most of us are violating during the weekend is eating after a certain time. We go over more of that in the free ebook, but the long and short is that you need to allow your metabolism to reboot itself. Do this by setting a cut off time where you will not eat food, and stick to that time every day!

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